After two weeks, the patient was strong enough to take high doses of I.V. vitamin C. Her physician ordered 30 grams of vitamin C given I.V. in Ringer's Lactate solution. One of the nurses said that she had never heard of such a high dose and she would not administer it "because it would kill the patient." She was assured by the author (NR) that patients at The Center and other clinical sites had been given 100 grams and more of I.V. C without any ill effects, and that he had personally taken 60 grams I.V. with no side effects. The nurse was still not convinced. To prove the safety of the I.V. C, the author started an I.V. infusion of 30 grams of vitamin C in Ringer's Lactate on himself. He was seated next to the nurse with the I.V. pole between them. The infusion lasted an hour and all the time the nurse was saying "you are going to die" and wanted witnesses to the fact that she would not be held responsible. As expected, there were no side effects and after further observation for ill effects by the head nurse for several hours, she finally agreed to give the I.V. vitamin C to the patient.

The patient received 30 grams I.V. vitamin C on the first day, 40 the next day and 50 the following day. After the third dose her right arm was completely without swelling and the swelling in her left arm was greatly decreased. Most notably, the infection in her left hand began to resolve, and she did not need to take sublingual morphine for pain. All, including the physician, nurses and patient were very impressed. The physician ordered additional shipments of vitamin C to continue the infusions. Infusions of vitamin C were increased to 100 grams per day, administered over five hours.

Within one week of starting the increased vitamin C infusions, the patient was walking around the halls of the hospital, looking like a new person. As the clinical rotation came to an end, the patient invited everyone connected with the vitamin C treatment to her room for a pizza party. The patient had her hair done and makeup on, something she had not done in the recent past. It was a wonderful pizza party, especially for a terminally ill cancer patient, once bedridden with intractable pain due to disseminated bone metastasis who, previously, was given a few weeks to live. After leaving the hospital, telephone calls were made to the physician to follow up on this patient. He said that she was discharged from the hospital one week after the vitamin C treatments were began. She continued to take high dose I.V. C treatments three times a week at home. Three months after she began the I.V. C treatments she was surviving with resolution of metastasis to the skull as shown on the bone scan.
This case illustrates problems encountered when dealing with health care workers who know little about complementary medicine. One example is the head nurse who thought that 30 grams of I.V. C "will kill you" and refused to administer it until proven otherwise. Yet the nurse probably had no hesitation in giving massive doses of intravenous morphine to the same patient. This case also illustrates that, occasionally, one encounters a physician who is willing to listen to his patient and try treatments not accepted by the conventional medical community. In this instance, both the physician and the patient benefitted.

Case Update
As this article was in the process of being submitted for publication, additional information was learned about this patient. Upon discharge from the hospital, she returned home to find her husband dead, apparently of natural causes. During a three month time period, in addition to her husband, her brother and nephew also died. It was also learned that while walking at a shopping mall, she apparently fell, breaking her hip. She was readmitted to the hospital where she died a short time later.

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